Golf club



y 21, 1940- A. K. THEIBAULT, SR 2,201,638

GOLF CLUB Filed Dec. 7, 1958 Patented May 21, 1940 UNITED STATES GOLFCLUB Albert K. Theibault,

Sr., Lakewood, N. J.

Application December 7, 1938, Serial No. 244,451

8 Claims.

This invention relates to an improved golf club. As is recognized,golfers, when playing golf, seem to carry, either personally, or by theproxy of a caddy, a great number of clubs. The matter 5 is dictated forthe most part by actual necessity, for the reason that each club isfashioned for a particular purpose and its choice for use determined bythe lie of the ball, with the result that no other club of slightlydifferent angle of face will exactly do for a given shot. This practiceof endeavoring to provide a special club for a special shot has, ofcourse, led into a great variety of clubs, with the result that mostgolfers carry what may appear to the uninitiated as a very large numberof excess clubs. Reason would dictate fewer clubs with correspondinglyless outlay as well as less weight to carry, without sacrificing theadvantage of exact striking face for exact shot.

An object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide a golf clubwherein a single shaft and special club-head embodying a removable faceplate, will be adapted, through an interchange of face plates, to servethe exigencies of a variety of shots while, at the same time fulfilling.in adequate degree, the matter of choice or theory of special club forspecial. lie and shot.

A further object of the invention is to provide a club wherein the faceplate may be changed easily and quickly, wherein said plate will nor=mally be retained firmly in position without loose ness or chattering,and wherein locking means will be provided for the retaining shaft forthe plate so that the plate cannot be accidently dislodged during playwith the club.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a club whereinmovement of the retaining shaft to release the face plate will serve toshift the plate away from the body of the head into spaced relationthereto so that the plate may be readily grasped and removed.

The invention has, as a further object, to provide a club wherein thebalance thereof when, for instance, the club is used as a driver, willbe such that the club head will tend to tilt rearwardly while for eachface plate substituted of progressively greater angle of striking face,the balance of the club will be shifted forwardly so that when the clubis used as a mashie or niblick, for instance, the club head will tend totilt forwardly, this shifting in the balance of the club serving tobetter adapt the club to the particular character of the shot to bemade.

And a still further object of the invention is to provide a club whereinthe head will be streamlined to offer a minimum of resistance to thetravel of the head through the air, as the club is swung, and whereinthe-under side of the head will be provided with airfoil faces adaptedto act against the air for exerting a lifting action onthe head such aswill tend to obviate gouging of the turf behind the ball.

Other and incidental objects of the invention will appear during thecourse of the following description and in the accompanying drawing;

Figure l is a perspective view particularly showing the club-head and aportion of the shaft.

Figure 2 is a horizontal section on the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a perspective view showing the striking plate removed but inproperoperative position.

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view through the club-head.

Figure 5 is a bottom perspective view showing the airfoil faces at thebottom side of the head.

Figure 6 is a detail perspective view of the retaining shaft for thestriking plate.

Figure 7 is a detail section through the cam of the retaining shaft.

Figure 8 is a detail diagrammatic section showing the manner in whichthe striking plate may be modified to provide steeper striking faces.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, I employ a, club-headincluding a body III which is semi-elliptical in general shape andelliptical in cross section in the direction from heel to toe, the bodybeing thickened somewhat toward the toe. The upper surface of the bodyis convex as is also, on the whole, the lower surface thereof while themeeting contours at the edges of the body are rounded to merge each intothe other. At the forward end of the body is a fiat elliptical face I Ilying at a right angle to the longitudinal axis of the body while at theheel is provided a short angular neck l2 elliptical in cross section toprovide a streamlined surface. The neck is bored to removably receive ashaft [3 and screwed into the body at the face ll thereof to engage adepression in said shaft is a locking pin I4 securing the body upon theshaft.

Formed on the body at the lower side thereof, as seen in Figure 5, arelaterally flared angular airfoil faces l5 between which is defined arudder rib I6 the lower edge of which gradually widens toward theforward end of the rib, and lying at the forward terminus of said rib isa fiat sole 11. As will be appreciated, the body, as a whole, is ofstreamlined contour so as to offer a minimum of. resistance to thetravel of the club through the air and, in this connection, it will benoted that Ethe faces I5 will, due to their angularity, act against theair, as the club-head swings downwardly, to exert an upward lift to thehead and guide the head into solid contact with the ball. Should thehead be brought into contact with the ground, however, the rudder rib l6will offer a minimum drag while also obviating the serious gouging ofthe turf behind the ball.

Formed in the body IU of the head axially thereof is a socket l3 whileat the toe side of the body, medially thereof, is provided alongitudinally extending slot |3, and leading from said slot to thesocket is a vent passage 20. The socket may be varied in size, asdesired, to determine the weight of the body and, after the head hasbeen formed, may be enlarged to control the weight of the body to anicety, it being noted, in this connection, that preferably, the body isof some suitable metal.

Intersecting the socket l3 from the toe side 0 the body I0 is atransverse bore 2|, the axis of which is located closely in the rear ofthe inclined axis of the neck I2, and rotatable in said bore is aretaining shaft 22, seen in detail in Figure 6 of the drawing. Thisshaft is provided at its ends with cylindrical trunnions 23 and 24 whichare journaled in the ends of the bore 2| and connecting said trunnionsis a reduced eccentrically disposed cam 25 more or less ovate in crosssection, as seen in Figure 7, and provided with a curved face 26 and arelatively flat face 21. Formed in the trunion 23 of the shaft is a slot28 and screwed into the body ID from the face thereof is a stop pin 29fitting in said slot. This pin will thus not only limit the shaft 22against endwise displacement but is also adapted to engage the ends ofthe slot 28 for limiting the shaft in its turning movement, the shaftbeing permitted about three quarters of a turn.

Formed in the trunnion 24 of the shaft 22 is a slot 36 disposed atsubstantially a right angle to the long axis of the cam 25, and pivotedin said slot is a lever 3| normally resting snugly in the slot I9 flushwith the adjacent side of the body. Preferably, the lever is providednear its free end with slight side-knobs 32 adapted to bind against theside walls of the slot I9 and frictionally secure the lever closed.However, by inserting a finger or, for instance, a tee, in the rear endof the slot I3 beneath the free end of the lever, said lever may bereadily swung outwardly and, as will be noted in Figure 2, the lever isprovided with a square head 33 adapted to impinge the bottom of the slotfor limiting the lever in its outward movement to open position.

In conjunction with the body HI I provide a removable face plate 34which in shape conforms closely to the shape of the face so that saidplate, when applied, blends with the streamlined contour of the body,and set into the front face of the plate, medially thereof, is a plug 35which is preferably of hard rubber and adapted to provide a frictionsurface to contact the ball, the

' plug being, as seen in Figure 2, secured by a cap screw 36. Screwedinto the body ill at the face H is a projecting centering stud 31located near the lower edge of the body at the toe thereof. This stud ismore or less snugly received in a suitable socket in the rear face ofthe plate 34 and serves to guide the plate to its seat as well as lockthe plate against any tendency to twist relative to the body.

The rear face of the plate 34 is flat to seat flat against the face llof the body while the front face of said plate isinclined, the platebeing thickened toward its lower edge, and integrally formed on orotherwise fixed to the plate at its rear side is a tongue 33, the plateand tongue being preferably formed, like the body "I, of suitable metal.The tongue 26 is provided with a cylindrical base 39 which snugly fitswithin the mouth of the socket l3 of the body while the free end portionof the tongue is narrowed to extend rearwardly within said socket and iscut away at its upper side to provide a transverse channel 40. As willbe observed, the lower side of the tongue is curvedto rest flat againstthe bottom of the socket while at its free end, the tongue is providedat its upper side with a flat face 4|. Mounted in the angle of the rearwall of the channel 40 is a bushing 42 of fiber or the like having aconcave front face to coact with the cam 25 of the shaft 22 andremovably securing said bushing in position is a cap screw 42. Screwedinto the base 38 of the tongue in posi-- tion to also coact with saidcam are spaced bushing-studs 44, the studs and the bushing beingintended to obviate wear of the cam and being renewable to eliminate anyplay which may develop.

It is now to be observed that in the normal closed position of the lever3|, the cam 25 of the shaft 22 stands vertically within the channel 43of the tongue 38 so that the curved face 26 of I said cam is thuspresented to the concave face of the bushing 42 to coact therewith forbinding the face plate 34 tightly against the face H of the body ill andlocking said plate in position. Furthermore, as will be seen, the lever3| will coact with the walls of the slot I9 for locking the shaftagainst rotation and consequently locking the plate assembled while, asthe lever is frictionally secured in said slot, displacement of thelever,

incident to impact of the club with a ball, will be prevented so thataccidental freeing of the face plate 34 will be effectually prevented.

To remove the face plate 34, the body ID of the club-head is graspedpreferably in the left hand,

when the lever 3| is rocked out of the slot l8,

pushed downwardly and swung counterclockwise until, as shown in Figure3, the lever stands approximately in a vertical position at the end ofthe throw of the shaft 22. The shaft will thus be turned to initiallyride the curved face 26 of the cam 25 out of engagement with the bushing42 when, as the rotation of the shaft continues, the cam will, due tothe eccentric mounting thereof, be shifted forwardly as the curved face26 of he cam moves into engagement with the studs 44.

Thus, upon the upward swing of the lever 3| during the latter portion ofthe counter-clockwise movement thereof, the curved face 26 of the camwill, as the cam is shifted forwardly, coact with the studs 44 forpartially ejecting the tongue 38 from the socket l6 and thus spacing theface plate 34 from the face ll of the body l0. Continued movement of thelever 3| to the end of the throw of the shaft 22 will thus serve todispose the flat face 21 of the cam downwardly, in which position of thecam the face 21 thereof will clear the flat face 4| of the tongue 36.Accordingly, as the face plate 34 has been moved by the cam to standaway from the face ll of the body, said plate may, upon the release ofthe lever 3|, be readily grasped by the fingers of the right hand forwithdrawing the tongue 38 from the socket l8 and removing the faceplate. By reversing the procedure just described, the face plate may, ofcourse, be as easily and quickly installed and (Ill , ceived, thestructure is eminently suited to a convenient interchange of differentface plates during play with the club.

The inclination of the front face of the plate 34 is such that when saidplate is employed, the club may be used as a driver, for instance, andin Figure 8 I have shown, in dotted lines, the manner in which the plate34 may be modified to provide other typical clubs. For instance, byincreasing the thickness of the plate towards its lower margin, asindicated at A, the front face of the plate will be made steeper toprovide a mid-iron plate for use like the plate 34, with the body Ill.Similarly, by further increasing the downward thickening of the plate34, as indicated at B, a mashie plate may be provided while by stillfurther increasing the downward thickening of the plate 34, as indicatedat C, a niblick plate may be provided. It will, of course, be understoodthat each of the plates mentioned will be constructed as a separate unitlike the plate 34 and attached parts, the several units being adaptedfor interchangeable use with the body Ill, and it is now to be notedthat each plate of progressive thickness will serve to add weight to theassembled plate and body l forwardly of the inclined axis of the shaftl3 and toward the sole H. The balance of the club will accordingly beshifted forwardly and downwardly in relation to the steepness of thestriking face of the face plate used so that as increased diificulty ofa shot is presented and it is desired to impart correspondingly greaterloft to the ball, the clubhead will be properly weighted forwardly toimpart a tendency to the head, at the instant of contact with the ball,to carry the force of impact under the ball and thus raise the ball fora proper loft of flight.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A golf club head including a body, a removable face plate carriedthereby, a retaining shaft on the body locking said plate in positionand rotatable to release said plate, and a pivoted lever carried by theshaft and movable to one position operable for rotating the shaft and toanother position coacting with the body for locking the shaftstationary.

2. A golf club head including a body, a removable face plate carriedthereby, and a rotatable retaining shaft on the body having a cambinding the plate in position and movable as the shaft is rotated tofree said plate and operatively coacting therewith for shifting theplate into spaced relation to the body.

able face plate carried thereby, and a rotatable retaining shaft mountedon the body to extend longitudinally of said plate and having aneccentrically disposed portion to operatively coact with the plate andmovable to lock the plate in position.

4. A golf club head including a body, a removable face plate carriedthereby, and a rotatable retaining shaft on the body having aneccentrically disposed portion to operatively coact with the plate andmovable to lock the plate in position as the shaft is rotated in onedirection and to shift the plate into spaced relation to the body as theshaft is rotated in the opposite direction.

5. A golf club head including a body having a socked therein, aremovable face plate overlying said socket and provided with a tonguereceived within the socket, and a rotatable retaining shaft on the bodyhaving an eccentrically disposed portion extending within said socketand movable to engage the tongue and bind the plate in position as theshaft is rotated. I

6. A golf club head including a body having a socket therein, aremovable face plate overlying said socket and provided with a tongueextend- 7 ing within the socket, and a rotatable retaining shaft on thebody having an eccentrically disposed portion extending within saidsocket to coact with the tongue and movable to bind the plate. inposition as the shaft is rotated in one direction and'to partially ejectsaid tongue from the socket as the shaft is rotated in the oppositedirection to free the plate.

7. A golf club head including a bodyhaving a.

socket therein, a removable face plate overlying said socket andprovided with a tongue extending within the socket, a rotatableretaining shaft on the body having an eccentrically disposed porrotarythrow, and a lever pivoted to the shaft and movable to engage the bodyfor locking the shaft against rotation securing the face plate seatedupon the body.

8. A golf club head including a body having a socket recessed throughthe forward face of the I body, a removable face plate overlying saidsocket and provided with a tongue extending within the socket, and meanscoacting with said tongue binding the plate in position. ALBERT K.'IHEIBAULT. 8:.

